1.
Mary Todd Lincoln
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Mary Ann Todd Lincoln was the wife of the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, and was First Lady of the United States from 1861 to 1865. She dropped the name Ann after her sister, Ann Todd, was born. A member of a large, wealthy Kentucky family, Mary was well educated, after living in the Todd House and finishing school during her teens, she moved to Springfield, Illinois, where she lived with her married sister Elizabeth Edwards. Before she married Abraham Lincoln, Mary was courted by his political opponent Stephen A. Douglas. She and Lincoln had four sons together, only one of whom outlived her and their home of about 17 years still stands at Eighth and Jackson Streets in Springfield, Illinois. She supported her throughout his presidency. She witnessed his fatal shooting when they were together in the Presidents Box at Fords Theatre on Tenth Street in Washington, Mary was involuntarily institutionalized for psychiatric disease ten years after her husbands murder. She also complained of physical symptoms during her adult life. Mary was born in Lexington, Kentucky as the fourth of seven children of Robert Smith Todd, a banker and her family were slaveholders, and Mary was raised in comfort and refinement. When Mary was six, her mother died, two years later, her father married Elizabeth Betsy Humphreys and they had nine children together. Mary had a relationship with her stepmother. From 1832, Mary and her family lived in what is now known as the Mary Todd Lincoln House, Marys paternal great-grandfather, David Levi Todd, was born in County Longford, Ireland, and immigrated through Pennsylvania to Kentucky. Her great-great maternal grandfather Samuel McDowell was born in Scotland, other Todd ancestors came from England. At an early age Mary was sent to Madame Mantelles finishing school and she learned to speak French fluently and studied dance, drama, music, and social graces. By age 20, she was regarded as witty and gregarious, like her family, she was a Whig. Mary began living with her sister Elizabeth Porter Edwards in Springfield, Elizabeth, married to Ninian W. Edwards, son of a former governor, served as Marys guardian. Mary Todd married Abraham Lincoln on November 4,1842, at her sister Elizabeths home in Springfield and she was 23 years old and he was 33 years of age. Their four sons, all born in Springfield, were, Robert Todd Lincoln, -– lawyer, diplomat, businessman
2.
Abraham Lincoln
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Abraham Lincoln was an American politician and lawyer who served as the 16th President of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Lincoln led the United States through its Civil War—its bloodiest war and perhaps its greatest moral, constitutional, in doing so, he preserved the Union, abolished slavery, strengthened the federal government, and modernized the economy. Born in Hodgenville, Kentucky, Lincoln grew up on the frontier in Kentucky. Largely self-educated, he became a lawyer in Illinois, a Whig Party leader, elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1846, Lincoln promoted rapid modernization of the economy through banks, tariffs, and railroads. Reentering politics in 1854, he became a leader in building the new Republican Party, in 1860, Lincoln secured the Republican Party presidential nomination as a moderate from a swing state. Though he gained little support in the slaveholding states of the South. Subsequently, on April 12,1861, a Confederate attack on Fort Sumter inspired the North to enthusiastically rally behind the Union. Politically, Lincoln fought back by pitting his opponents against each other, by carefully planned political patronage and his Gettysburg Address became an iconic endorsement of the principles of nationalism, republicanism, equal rights, liberty, and democracy. Lincoln initially concentrated on the military and political dimensions of the war and his primary goal was to reunite the nation. He suspended habeas corpus, leading to the ex parte Merryman decision. Lincoln closely supervised the war effort, especially the selection of top generals, including his most successful general, Lincoln tried repeatedly to capture the Confederate capital at Richmond, each time a general failed, Lincoln substituted another, until finally Grant succeeded. As the war progressed, his moves toward ending slavery included the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. On April 14,1865, five days after the surrender of Confederate commanding general Robert E. Lee, Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton launched a manhunt for Booth, and 12 days later on April 26, Lincoln has been consistently ranked both by scholars and the public as among the greatest U. S. presidents. Abraham Lincoln was born February 12,1809, the child of Thomas and Nancy Hanks Lincoln, in a one-room log cabin on the Sinking Spring Farm near Hodgenville. He was a descendant of Samuel Lincoln, an Englishman who migrated from Hingham, Norfolk to its namesake of Hingham, samuels grandson and great-grandson began the familys western migration, which passed through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Lincolns paternal grandfather and namesake, Captain Abraham Lincoln, moved the family from Virginia to Jefferson County, Captain Lincoln was killed in an Indian raid in 1786. His children, including eight-year-old Thomas, the presidents father
3.
Photography
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Typically, a lens is used to focus the light reflected or emitted from objects into a real image on the light-sensitive surface inside a camera during a timed exposure. With an electronic sensor, this produces an electrical charge at each pixel. A negative image on film is used to photographically create a positive image on a paper base, known as a print. The word photography was created from the Greek roots φωτός, genitive of φῶς, light and γραφή representation by means of lines or drawing, several people may have coined the same new term from these roots independently. Johann von Maedler, a Berlin astronomer, is credited in a 1932 German history of photography as having used it in an article published on 25 February 1839 in the German newspaper Vossische Zeitung. Both of these claims are now widely reported but apparently neither has ever been confirmed as beyond reasonable doubt. Credit has traditionally given to Sir John Herschel both for coining the word and for introducing it to the public. Photography is the result of combining several technical discoveries, later Greek mathematicians Aristotle and Euclid also independently described a pinhole camera in the 5th and 4th centuries BCE. Daniele Barbaro described a diaphragm in 1566, wilhelm Homberg described how light darkened some chemicals in 1694. The fiction book Giphantie, published in 1760, by French author Tiphaigne de la Roche, the discovery of the camera obscura that provides an image of a scene dates back to ancient China. Leonardo da Vinci mentions natural camera obscura that are formed by dark caves on the edge of a sunlit valley, a hole in the cave wall will act as a pinhole camera and project a laterally reversed, upside down image on a piece of paper. So the birth of photography was primarily concerned with inventing means to capture, renaissance painters used the camera obscura which, in fact, gives the optical rendering in color that dominates Western Art. The camera obscura literally means dark chamber in Latin and it is a box with a hole in it which allows light to go through and create an image onto the piece of paper. Around the year 1800, British inventor Thomas Wedgwood made the first known attempt to capture the image in a camera obscura by means of a light-sensitive substance and he used paper or white leather treated with silver nitrate. The shadow images eventually darkened all over, the first permanent photoetching was an image produced in 1822 by the French inventor Nicéphore Niépce, but it was destroyed in a later attempt to make prints from it. Niépce was successful again in 1825, in 1826 or 1827, he made the View from the Window at Le Gras, the earliest surviving photograph from nature. Because Niépces camera photographs required a long exposure, he sought to greatly improve his bitumen process or replace it with one that was more practical. With an eye to eventual commercial exploitation, the partners opted for total secrecy, Daguerres efforts culminated in what would later be named the daguerreotype process
4.
Ghost
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In folklore, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that can appear to the living. Descriptions of ghosts vary widely from a presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to realistic. The deliberate attempt to contact the spirit of a person is known as necromancy. The belief in the existence of an afterlife, as well as manifestations of the spirits of the dead is widespread, certain religious practices—funeral rites, exorcisms, and some practices of spiritualism and ritual magic—are specifically designed to rest the spirits of the dead. Ghosts are generally described as solitary, human-like essences, though stories of ghostly armies and they are believed to haunt particular locations, objects, or people they were associated with in life. Ghosts exist as a concept only, despite centuries of investigation, the English word ghost continues Old English gást, from a hypothetical Common Germanic *gaistaz. It is common to West Germanic, but lacking in North Germanic, the pre-Germanic form was *ghoisdo-s, apparently from a root denoting fury, anger reflected in Old Norse geisa to rage. The Germanic word is recorded as only, but likely continues a neuter s-stem. The original meaning of the Germanic word would thus have been a principle of the mind, in particular capable of excitation. In Germanic paganism, Germanic Mercury, and the later Odin, was at the time the conductor of the dead. It could also denote any good or evil spirit, such as angels and demons, also from the Old English period, the word could denote the spirit of God, viz. the Holy Ghost. The now-prevailing sense of the soul of a person, spoken of as appearing in a visible form only emerges in Middle English. The synonym spook is a Dutch loanword, akin to Low German spôk, alternative words in modern usage include spectre, the Scottish wraith, phantom and apparition. The term shade in classical mythology translates Greek σκιά, or Latin umbra, haint is a synonym for ghost used in regional English of the southern United States, and the haint tale is a common feature of southern oral and literary tradition. The term poltergeist is a German word, literally a noisy ghost, wraith is a Scots word for ghost, spectre, or apparition. It appeared in Scottish Romanticist literature, and acquired the general or figurative sense of portent or omen. In 18th- to 19th-century Scottish literature, it applied to aquatic spirits. The word has no commonly accepted etymology, the OED notes of obscure origin only, an association with the verb writhe was the etymology favored by J. R. R. Tolkien
5.
Spirit
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The English word spirit, from Latin spiritus breath, has many different meanings and connotations, most of them relating to a non-corporeal substance contrasted with the material body. It can also refer to a subtle as opposed to gross material substance, the word spirit is often used metaphysically to refer to the consciousness or personality. e. A manifestation of the spirit of a deceased person, the term may also refer to any incorporeal or immaterial being, such as demons or deities. In the Bible, the Spirit, specifically denotes the Holy Spirit, the English word spirit comes from the Latin spiritus, meaning breath, but also spirit, soul, courage, vigor, ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European *peis. It is distinguished from Latin anima, soul, in Greek, this distinction exists between pneuma, breath, motile air, spirit, and psykhē, soul. The word spirit came into Middle English via Old French, the distinction between soul and spirit also developed in the Abrahamic religions, Arabic nafs opposite rūħ, Hebrew neshama or nephesh נֶ֫פֶשׁ nép̄eš opposite ruach. In a lecture delivered to the literary Society of Augsburg, October 20,1926, on the theme of “Nature and Spirit, the mistrust of verbal concepts, inconvenient as it is, nevertheless seems to me to be very much in place in speaking of fundamentals. Spirit and Life are familiar enough words to us, very old acquaintances in fact, pawns that for thousands of years have pushed back. It can scarcely be an accident onomatopoeic words like ruach, ruch, roho mean ‘spirit’ no less clearly than the Greek πνεύμα and the Latin spiritus”. In spiritual and metaphysical terms, spirit has acquired a number of meanings, An incorporeal but ubiquitous, unlike the concept of souls a spirit develops and grows as an integral aspect of a living being. This concept of the individual spirit occurs commonly in animism, note the distinction between this concept of spirit and that of the pre-existing or eternal soul, belief in souls occurs specifically and far less commonly, particularly in traditional societies. One might more properly term this type/aspect of spirit life or aether rather than spirit, people usually conceive of a ghost as a wandering spirit from a being no longer living, having survived the death of the body yet maintaining at least vestiges of mind and consciousness. In religion and spirituality, the respiration of a human has for obvious reasons become seen as linked with the very occurrence of life. A similar significance has become attached to human blood, Spirit, in this sense, means the thing that separates a living body from a corpse—and usually implies intelligence, consciousness, and sentience. Latter-day Saint prophet Joseph Smith Jr. taught that the concept of spirit as incorporeal or without substance was incorrect, all spirit is matter, but it is more fine or pure, and can only be discerned by purer eyes. In some Native American spiritual traditions the Great Spirit or Wakan Tanka is a term for the Supreme Being, individual spirits envisaged as interconnected with all other spirits and with The Spirit. This concept relates to theories of a unified spirituality, to universal consciousness, the experience of such a connection can become a primary basis for spiritual belief. Christian spiritual theology can use the term Spirit to describe God, or aspects of God — as in the Holy Spirit, Spirit forms a central concept in pneumatology
6.
Ghost hunting
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Ghost hunting is a fringe pseudoscience wherein its adherents visit and investigate locations that are reported to be haunted by ghosts. Typically, a ghost hunting team will attempt to evidence that they see as supportive of paranormal activity. Traditional techniques such as conducting interviews and researching the history of a site are also employed, some ghost hunters refer to themselves as a paranormal investigator. Ghost hunting has been criticized for its total absence of scientific method. Ghost hunting is considered a pseudoscience by a vast majority of educators, academics, science writers, in contrast, the concept of the ghost and narratives featuring ghosts are a topic of academic study in folkloristics. Paranormal research dates back to the 19th century, with such as the Society for Psychical Research investigating spiritual matters. Psychic researcher Harry Price published his Confessions of a Ghost-Hunter in 1936, Ghost hunting was popularised in the 2000s by television series such as Most Haunted and Ghost Hunters, combined with the increasing availability of high-tech equipment. The Atlantic Paranormal Society reported a doubling in their membership in the late 2000s, despite its lack of acceptance in academic circles, the popularity of ghost-hunting reality TV shows has influenced a number of individuals to take up the pursuit. Small businesses offering ghost-hunting equipment and paranormal investigation services increased in the early 2000s, many offer electromagnetic field meters, infrared motion sensors and devices billed as ghost detectors. One ghost-hunting group reports that the number of people taking its tours has tripled, another says its membership has doubled. Others point to increased traffic on their websites and message boards as an indication that ghost hunting is becoming more accepted, participants say that ghost hunting allows them to enjoy the friendship of like-minded people and actively pursue their interest in the paranormal. James Willis, founder of The Ghosts of Ohio group, says that his membership has grown to 30 members since it was founded in 1999 and includes both true believers and total skeptics. Willis says his group is looking for answers, one way or another, potts writes that modern ghost hunting groups ignore the scientific method and instead follow a form of techno-mysticism. The popularity of ghost hunting has led to some injuries, unaware that a spooky home in Worthington, Ohio was occupied, a group of teenagers stepped on the edge of the property to explore. The homeowner fired on the automobile as they were leaving. A woman hunting for ghosts was killed in a fall from a University of Toronto building, an offshoot of ghost hunting is the commercial ghost tour conducted by a local guide or tour operator who is often a member of a local ghost-hunting or paranormal investigation group. The city of Savannah, Georgia is said to be the American city with the most ghost tours, according to a survey conducted in October 2008 by the Associated Press and Ipsos,34 percent of Americans say they believe in the existence of ghosts. Moreover, a Gallup poll conducted on June 6–8,2005 showed that one-third of Americans believe that ghosts exist, in 2002, the National Science Foundation identified haunted houses, ghosts, and communication with the dead among pseudoscientific beliefs
7.
William H. Mumler
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William H. Mumler was an American spirit photographer who worked in New York and Boston. His first spirit photograph was a self-portrait which developed to show his deceased cousin. Mumler then left his job as a jeweller, instead opting to work as a full-time photographer, taking advantage of the large number of people who had lost relatives in the American Civil War. Perhaps his two most famous works are the photograph of Mary Todd Lincoln with the ghost of her husband Abraham Lincoln, and his photo of Master Herrod, a medium, with three spirit guides. After being accused of various activities, he was taken to court for fraud, though found not guilty, his career was over, and he died in poverty. Today, Mumlers photos are known to be fakes, yet, they circulated widely in the following years and decades, and were marketed as objects of belief and visual curiosities both within and beyond the spiritualist movement. Before beginning his career as a photographer, Mumler worked as an jewellery engraver in Boston. In the early 1860s, he developed a self-portrait that appeared to feature the apparition of his cousin who had been dead for 12 years. This is widely credited as the first spirit photograph of a living subject featuring the likeness of a deceased person imprinted by the spirit of the deceased. Spirit photography is thought to have been a lucrative business thanks to the families of those killed during the American Civil War seeking reassurance that their relatives lived on and he was married to a famous healing medium, who conducted her own business beside her husbands. Critics of Mumlers work included P. T, according to Joe Nickell Mumler was exposed as a fraud when people recognized that some of the supposed spirits were still among the living. Mumler was brought to trial for fraud in April 1869 and those testifying in support of Mumler included Moses A. Dow, a journalist who Mumler had photographed. Though acquitted of fraud, Mumlers career was ruined, after the trial, he went on to be a photograph publisher, discovering a photo printing process from wood-cuts, known then as the Mumler process. Today, his photos are considered hoaxes, one of Mumlers most famous photographs apparently shows Mary Todd Lincoln with the ghost of her husband, Abraham Lincoln. Willin goes on to say that Mumler did not discover who she was until after the photo was developed, although the image has been dismissed as a fraudulent double exposure, it has been widely circulated. Master Herrod was a medium from Bridgewater, Massachusetts photographed by Mumler in about 1872. One photograph, once developed, apparently showed Herrod in a surrounded by the spirits of Europe. The photograph was advertised for sale in The Religio-Philosophical Journal on August 24,1872, other photographs by Mumler included pictures showing various spirits with living sitters
8.
Multiple exposure
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The exposure values may or may not be identical to each other. Ordinarily, cameras have a sensitivity to light that is a function of time, for example, a one-second exposure is an exposure in which the camera image is equally responsive to light over the exposure time of one second. The criterion for determining that something is an exposure is that the sensitivity goes up. The simplest example of an exposure is a double exposure without flash. Some single exposures, such as flash and blur use a combination of electronic flash and this effect can be approximated by a Dirac delta measure and a constant finite rectangular window, in combination. For example, a sensitivity window comprising a Dirac comb combined with a pulse, is considered a multiple exposure. In photography and cinematography, multiple exposure is a technique in which the shutter is opened more than once to expose the film multiple times. The resulting image contains the subsequent image/s superimposed over the original, the technique is sometimes used as an artistic visual effect and can be used to create ghostly images or to add people and objects to a scene that were not originally there. It is frequently used in photographic hoaxes and it is considered easiest to have a manual winding camera for double exposures. On automatic winding cameras, as soon as a picture is taken the film is wound to the next frame. Some more advanced automatic winding cameras have the option for multiple exposures, manual winding cameras with a multiple exposure feature can be set to double-expose after making the first exposure. Since shooting multiple exposures will expose the same frame multiple times, for example, to expose the frame twice with correct exposure, a −1 EV compensation have to be done, and −2 EV for exposing four times. This may not be necessary when photographing a lit subject in two different positions against a dark background, as the background area will be essentially unexposed. Medium to low light is ideal for double exposures, a tripod may not be necessary if combining different scenes in one shot. In some conditions, for example, recording the progress of a lunar eclipse in multiple exposures. More than two exposures can be combined, with not to overexpose the film. Digital technology enables images to be superimposed over each other by using a photo editor. These enable the opacity of the images to be altered and for an image to be overlaid over another and they also can set the layers to multiply mode, which adds the colors together rather than making the colors of either image pale and translucent
9.
Mediumship
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Mediumship is the practice of certain people —known as mediums— to purportedly mediate communication between spirits of the dead and living human beings. There are different types of mediumship including spirit channeling, and ouija, humans have been fascinated with contacting the dead since the beginning of human existence. Cave paintings by indigenous Australians date back 28,000 years, some depicting skulls, bones, spirits, Other cave paintings in Indonesia date back a further 10,000 years. Mediumship gained popularity during the century, when ouija boards were used by the upper classes as a source of entertainment. Investigations during this period revealed widespread fraud—with some practitioners employing techniques used by stage magicians—and the practice began to lose credibility, fraud is still rife in the medium/psychic industry, with cases of deception and trickery being discovered to this day. Scientific researchers have attempted to ascertain the validity of claims of mediumship, an experiment undertaken by the British Psychological Society led to the conclusion that the test subjects demonstrated no mediumistic ability. Other forms involve materializations of the spirit or the presence of a voice, the practice is associated with several religious-belief systems such as Vodun, Spiritualism, Spiritism, Candomblé, Voodoo, Umbanda and some New Age groups. In Spiritism and Spiritualism the medium has the role of an intermediary between the world of the living and the world of spirit. Mediums claim that they can listen to and relay messages from spirits, or that they can allow a spirit to control their body and speak through it directly or by using automatic writing or drawing. Spiritualists classify types of mediumship into two categories, mental and physical, Mental mediums allegedly tune in to the spirit world by listening, sensing. During seances, mediums are said to go into trances, varying from light to deep, attempts to communicate with the dead and other living human beings, aka spirits, have been documented back to early human history. Mediumship became quite popular in the 19th-century United States and the United Kingdom after the rise of Spiritualism as a religious movement, Modern Spiritualism is said to date from practices and lectures of the Fox sisters in New York State in 1848. The trance mediums Paschal Beverly Randolph and Emma Hardinge Britten were among the most celebrated lecturers and authors on the subject in the mid-19th century, allan Kardec coined the term Spiritism around 1860. Kardec claimed that conversations with spirits by selected mediums were the basis of his The Spirits Book and later, his five-book collection, some scientists of the period who investigated spiritualism also became converts. They included chemist Robert Hare, physicist William Crookes and evolutionary biologist Alfred Russel Wallace, nobel laureate Pierre Curie took a very serious scientific interest in the work of medium Eusapia Palladino. Other prominent adherents included journalist and pacifist William T, Stead and physician and author Arthur Conan Doyle. After the exposure of the fraudulent use of magic tricks by physical mediums such as the Davenport Brothers. However, the religion and its beliefs continue in spite of this, with physical mediumship and seances falling out of practice, Spiritualism continues to be practiced, primarily through various denominational spiritualist churches in the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom
10.
William Hope (paranormal investigator)
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William Hope was a pioneer of so-called spirit photography. Based in Crewe, England, he was a member of the well known spiritualists group and he died in Salford hospital on 8 March 1933. As a young man Hope was employed as a carpenter, Hope produced his first spirit image in 1905. Soon afterwards he formed the Crewe Circle Spiritualist group, with himself as the leader, in 1906, Hope managed to dupe William Crookes with a fake spirit photograph of his wife. Oliver Lodge revealed there had been signs of double exposure – the picture of Lady Crookes had been copied from a wedding anniversary photograph. However, Crookes was a convinced spiritualist and claimed it was evidence for spirit photography. Doubts were also raised about his photography in 1908. Hope was first exposed in 1920 by Edward Bush who had caught Hope out by using a trap and he used the fake name Wood and sent a letter to Hope with a photograph of a living person which he pretended was his deceased son. He later attended a sitting with Hope, Hope produced a spirit extra which was exactly the same as the photograph he had sent Hope and on it were the words Dear friend Wood. The psychical researcher Whately Carington wrote regarding the exposure any reasonable person will say that Mr Bush had proved his case, in 1921, Mr DeVaga, a friend of the magician Harry Houdini, attended a sitting with Hope. DeVaga found the conditions in the room suspicious and suspected that Hope had switched a plate. Price wrote in his report William Hope has been guilty of deliberately substituting his own plates for those of a sitter. It implies that the medium brings to the sitting a duplicate slide, unaware that Price had tampered with his supplies, Hope then attempted to produce a number of spirit photographs. Although Hope produced several images of spirits, none of his materials contained the Imperial Dry Plate Co, ltd logo, or the marks that Price had put on Hopes original equipment, showing that he had exchanged prepared materials containing fake spirit images for the provided materials. Price later re-published the Societys experiment in a pamphlet of his own called Cold Light on Spiritualistic Phenomena - An Experiment with the Crewe Circle. Doyle threatened to have Price evicted from his laboratory and claimed if he persisted to write sewage about spiritualists, Doyle and other spiritualists attacked Price and tried for years to have Price take his pamphlet out of circulation. Price wrote Arthur Conan Doyle and his friends abused me for years for exposing Hope, despite Prices findings, Hope still retained a noted following amongst spiritualists. Doyle refused to accept any evidence that Hope was a fraud and even invoked a conspiracy that Price, Hopes exposures were discussed in detail by James Black in an article for the Scientific American in 1922
11.
Arthur Conan Doyle
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He is also known for writing the fictional adventures of Professor Challenger, a second character he invented, and for propagating the mystery of the Mary Celeste. He was a writer whose other works include fantasy and science fiction stories, plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction. Doyle is often referred to as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle or simply Conan Doyle and his baptism entry in the register of St Marys Cathedral, Edinburgh, gives Arthur Ignatius Conan as his given names and Doyle as his surname. It also names Michael Conan as his godfather, the cataloguers of the British Library and the Library of Congress treat Doyle alone as his surname. Steven Doyle, editor of the Baker Street Journal, wrote, shortly after he graduated from high school he began using Conan as a sort of surname. But technically his last name is simply Doyle, when knighted, he was gazetted as Doyle, not under the compound Conan Doyle. Nevertheless, the use of a compound surname is demonstrated by the fact that Doyles second wife was known as Jean Conan Doyle rather than Jean Doyle. Doyle was born on 22 May 1859 at 11 Picardy Place, Edinburgh and his father, Charles Altamont Doyle, was English, of Irish Catholic descent, and his mother, Mary, was Irish Catholic. In 1864 the family dispersed because of Charless growing alcoholism, in 1867, the family came together again and lived in squalid tenement flats at 3 Sciennes Place. Doyles father died in 1893, in the Crichton Royal, Dumfries, supported by wealthy uncles, Doyle was sent to England, at the Jesuit preparatory school Hodder Place, Stonyhurst in Lancashire at the age of nine. He then went on to Stonyhurst College until 1875, from 1875 to 1876, he was educated at the Jesuit school Stella Matutina in Feldkirch, Austria. He later rejected the Catholic faith and became an agnostic and he also later became a spiritualist mystic. From 1876 to 1881, Doyle studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh Medical School, including working in Aston, Sheffield and Ruyton-XI-Towns. During that time, he studied botany at the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh. While studying, Doyle began writing short stories and his earliest extant fiction, The Haunted Grange of Goresthorpe, was unsuccessfully submitted to Blackwoods Magazine. His first published piece, The Mystery of Sasassa Valley, a set in South Africa, was printed in Chamberss Edinburgh Journal on 6 September 1879. Doyle was employed as a doctor on the Greenland whaler Hope of Peterhead in 1880 and, C. M. as a ships surgeon on the SS Mayumba during a voyage to the West African coast. He completed his M. D. degree on the subject of tabes dorsalis in 1885, arriving in Portsmouth in June 1882 with less than £10 to his name, he set up a medical practice at 1 Bush Villas in Elm Grove, Southsea
12.
William Crookes
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Sir William Crookes OM PRS was an English chemist and physicist who attended the Royal College of Chemistry in London, and worked on spectroscopy. He was a pioneer of vacuum tubes, inventing the Crookes tube which was made in 1875, Crookes was the inventor of the Crookes radiometer, which today is made and sold as a novelty item. Late in life, he interested in spiritualism, and became the president of the Society for Psychical Research. Crookes made a career of being a meteorologist and fierce lecture giver at multiple studies and courses, Crookes worked in chemistry and physics. His experiments were notable for the originality of their design and his interests, ranging over pure and applied science, economic and practical problems, and psychiatric research, made him a well-known personality. He received many public and academic honors, Crookess life was one of unbroken scientific activity. William Crookes was born in London, the eldest of 16 siblings and his father, Joseph Crookes, was a tailor of north-country origin, at that time living with his second wife, Mary Scott Lewis Rutherford Johnson. From 1850 to 1854 he filled the position of assistant in the college and it wasnt in organic chemistry which the focus of his teacher, August Wilhelm von Hofmann, might have been expected to lead him towards, but into new compounds of selenium. These were the subject of his first published papers,1851, in 1855 he was appointed lecturer in chemistry at the Chester Diocesan Training College. In 1856 he married Ellen, daughter of William Humphrey of Darlington and they had three sons and a daughter. Married and living in London, he was devoted mainly to independent work, in 1859, he founded the Chemical News, a science magazine which he edited for many years and conducted on much less formal lines than was usual for the journals of scientific societies. In 1861, Crookes discovered an unknown element with a bright green emission line in its spectrum and named the element thallium, from the Greek thallos. Crookes wrote a treatise on Select Methods in Chemical Analysis in 1871. The method of analysis, introduced by Bunsen and Kirchhoff, was received by Crookes with great enthusiasm. His first important discovery was that of the element thallium, announced in 1861, by this work his reputation became firmly established, and he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1863. He developed the Crookes tubes, investigating cathode rays and he published numerous papers on spectroscopy and conducted research on a variety of minor subjects. In his investigations of the conduction of electricity in low pressure gases, he discovered that as the pressure was lowered, as these examples indicate, he was a pioneer in the construction and use of vacuum tubes for the study of physical phenomena. He was, as a consequence, one of the first scientists to investigate what is now called a plasma and he also devised one of the first instruments for studying nuclear radioactivity, the spinthariscope
13.
William Stainton Moses
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William Stainton Moses was an English cleric and spiritualist medium. Moses was born in Donington near Lincoln and he was educated at Bedford School, University College School, London and Exeter College, Oxford. He was ordained as a priest of the Church of England by Bishop Samuel Wilberforce in 1870, Moses attended his first séance with Lottie Fowler in 1872. Charles Williams and Daniel Dunglas Home were the mediums he visited. Five months after his introduction to spiritualism, he claimed to have experienced levitation, the automatic scripts of Moses began to appear in his books Spirit Teachings and Spirit Identity. The scripts date from 1872 to 1883 and fill 24 notebooks, all but one have been preserved by the London Spiritualist Alliance. A Treatise on One of the Objective Forms of Psychic or Spiritual Phenomena in 1878, in it, he coins the term psychography for the spiritualist concept of channeling messages from the dead via automatic writing. Moses was one of the first vice-presidents of the Society for Psychical Research, other early members included Frederic W. H. Myers, Henry Sidgwick and Edmund Gurney. In 1886 and 1887 in a series of publications the SPR exposed the tricks of the medium William Eglinton, because of this, some spiritualist members including Moses resigned from the SPR. Moses endorsed the spirit photography of Édouard Isidore Buguet, however, Moses had supported Buguet in an article for Human Nature in May 1875. After Burguet was exposed later in the year, Moses insisted that Buguet was still a genuine medium. The case has been cited by researchers as an example of spiritualists willing to believe, in 1884, Moses was a founding member, together with Rogers, of the London Spiritualist Alliance, afterwards the College of Psychic Studies. Moses died on 5 September 1892, Moses performed in dark conditions only with a small select circle of friends, he did not allow psychical researchers to attend his séances and refused to be tested. Nor would the feats described have required any special skill on the mediums part and it was suggested that Moses looked up obituaries, daily newspapers, biographies or The Annual Register to research the history of deceased people. Joseph McCabe described Moses as an impostor and wrote that his apports. Science historian Sherrie Lynne Lyons wrote that the glowing or light-emitting hands in séances could easily be explained by the rubbing of oil of phosphorus on the hands, Moses was caught twice with a bottle of phosphorus. To my mind, he was quite capable, many of Mosess statements about ancient history have proven to be false. Researcher Georgess McHargue has suggested that Moses mediumship was the result of self-suggestion, the first documented instance of cryptomnesia occurred in 1874 with Moses
14.
Ectoplasm (paranormal)
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Ectoplasm is a term coined by Charles Richet to denote a substance or spiritual energy exteriorized by physical mediums. Ectoplasm is said to be associated with the formation of spirits, ectoplasm is considered to be a hoax, made from cheesecloth, gauze or other natural substances. Ectoplasm is said to be formed by physical mediums when in a trance state, some accounts claim that ectoplasm begins clear and almost invisible, but darkens and becomes visible, as the psychic energy becomes stronger. Still other accounts state that in extreme cases ectoplasm will develop a strong odor, according to some mediums, the ectoplasm can not occur in light conditions as the ectoplasmic substance would disintegrate. Arthur Conan Doyle described ectoplasm as “a viscous, gelatinous substance which appeared to differ from every form of matter in that it could solidify. Although the term is widespread in popular culture, the existence of ectoplasm is not accepted by science. Some tested samples purported to be ectoplasm have been found to be various non-paranormal substances, other researchers have duplicated, with non-supernatural materials, the photographic effects sometimes said to prove the existence of ectoplasm. The idea of ectoplasm was merged into the notion of a force by some early psychical researchers who were seeking a physical explanation for reports of psychokinesis in séances. Its existence was hypothesized by Count Agenor de Gasparin, to explain the phenomena of table turning and tapping during séances. Ectenic force was named by de Gasparins colleague M. Thury, between them, de Gasparin and Thury conducted a number of experiments in ectenic force, and claimed some success. Their work was not independently verified and this view was held by Camille Flammarion and William Crookes, however a later psychical researcher Hereward Carrington pointed out that the fluid was hypothetical and has never been discovered. The psychical investigator W. J. Crawford had claimed that a substance was responsible for levitation of objects after witnessing the medium Kathleen Goligher. Crawford, after witnessing a number of her séances, claimed to have obtained flashlight photographs of the substance and he claimed the substance is not visible to the naked eye but can be felt by the body. DAlbe claimed the substance in the photographs of Crawford was ordinary muslin, during a séance DAlbe had observed white muslin between Golighers feet. Ectoplasm on many occasions has proven to be fraudulent. The Society for Psychical Research investigations into mediumship exposed many fraudulent mediums which contributed to the decline of interest in physical mediumship, Schrenck-Notzing published the book Phenomena of Materialisation which included photographs of the ectoplasm. Critics pointed out the photographs of the ectoplasm revealed marks of magazine cut-outs, pins, Schrenck-Notzing admitted that on several occasions Carrière deceptively smuggled pins into the séance room. The magician Carlos María de Heredia replicated the ectoplasm of Carrière using a comb, gauze, donald West wrote that the ectoplasm of Carrière was fake and was made of cut-out paper faces from newspapers and magazines on which fold marks could sometimes be seen from the photographs
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Harry Price
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Harry Price was a British psychic researcher and author, who gained public prominence for his investigations into psychical phenomena and his exposing of fake Spiritualists. He is best known for his investigation of the purportedly haunted Borley Rectory in Essex. Although Price claimed his birth was in Shropshire he was born in London in Red Lion Square on the site of the South Place Ethical Societys Conway Hall. He was educated in New Cross, first at Waller Road Infants School, at 15, Price founded the Carlton Dramatic Society and wrote plays, including a drama, about his early experience with a poltergeist which he said took place at a haunted manor house in Shropshire. According to Richard Morris, in his recent biography Harry Price, The Psychic Detective Stroud,2006, the young Price also had an avid interest in coin collecting and wrote several articles for The Askean, the magazine for Haberdashers School. From around May 1908 Price continued his interest in archaeology at Pulborough, one of these, a silver ingot which was stamped around the time of the last Roman emperor Honorius. A few years later, another celebrated Sussex archaeologist Charles Dawson found a brick at Pevensey Fort in Sussex which was made in Honorius time. J Haverfield of Oxford University, the countrys foremost expert on Roman history, a report for the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries in the same year reported that. Both the shape and lettering betrayed its origin and his expertise in sleight-of-hand and magic tricks stood him in good stead for what would become his all consuming passion, the investigation of paranormal phenomena. Originally all the copies of the book were bought up by spiritualists, Prices first major success in psychical research came in 1922 when he exposed the spirit photographer William Hope. In the same year he travelled to Germany together with Eric Dingwall, in 1923, Price exposed the medium Jan Guzyk, according to Price the man was clever, especially with his feet, which were almost as useful to him as his hands in producing phenomena. In 1920 Carrière was investigated by researchers in London. An analysis of her ectoplasm revealed it to be made of chewed paper and she was also investigated in 1922 and the result of the tests were negative. In 1925, Price investigated Maria Silbert and caught her using her feet and he also investigated the direct voice mediumship of George Valiantine in London. In the séance Valiantine claimed to have contacted the spirit of the composer Luigi Arditi, Price wrote down every word that was attributed to Arditi and they were found to be word-for-word matches in an Italian phrase-book. Price formed an organisation in 1926 called the National Laboratory of Psychical Research as a rival to the Society for Psychical Research, Price had a number of disputes with the SPR, most notably over the mediumship of Rudi Schneider. Price paid mediums to test them-the SPR criticized Price and disagreed about paying mediums for testing, Price made a formal offer to the University of London to equip and endow a Department of Psychical Research, and to loan the equipment of the National Laboratory and its library. The University of London Board of Studies in Psychology responded positively to this proposal, in the meantime, in 1927 Price joined the Ghost Club, of which he remained a member until it closed in 1936
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Spiritualism
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Spiritualism is the belief that the spirits of the dead have both the ability and the inclination to communicate with the living. The afterlife, or the world, is seen by spiritualists, not as a static place. Some spiritualists will speak of a concept which they refer to as spirit guides—specific spirits, often contacted, Spiritism, a branch of spiritualism developed by Allan Kardec and today practiced mostly in Continental Europe and Latin America, especially in Brazil, emphasizes reincarnation. Spiritualism developed and reached its peak growth in membership from the 1840s to the 1920s, by 1897, spiritualism was said to have more than eight million followers in the United States and Europe, mostly drawn from the middle and upper classes. Many prominent spiritualists were women, and like most spiritualists, supported such as the abolition of slavery. By the late 1880s the credibility of the movement had weakened due to accusations of fraud perpetrated by mediums. Spiritualism is currently practiced primarily through various denominational spiritualist churches in the United States, Canada and they believe that spirit mediums are gifted to carry on such communication, but that anyone may become a medium through study and practice. They believe that spirits are capable of growth and perfection, progressing through higher spheres or planes, and that the afterlife is not a static state, many believers therefore speak of spirit guides—specific spirits, often contacted, and relied upon for worldly and spiritual guidance. According to spiritualists, anyone may receive messages, but formal communication sessions are held by mediums. Nevertheless, on significant points Christian Protestantism and spiritualism are different and this view is self-evidently incompatible with spiritualism, where the merely spiritual existence is superior to the embodied one. There are quite a number of spiritualist churches which are explicitly Christian in theology, forms of worship and praise, judaism It is held by some adherents of the Jewish religion that spiritualism is strictly forbidden by the Bible. Islam Within Islam, only rarely do some traditions - notably Sufism, despite this, the majority of the followers of Islam believe in the existence of spirits as a fundamental aspect of their religion. However, these spirits are not those of humans but of a third sapient creation said to be made by God called the jinn. Jinn are spirits made from fire, in a realm not visible to the eyes of people. A famous jinn in the Muslim tradition is Satan, as opposed to the Christian belief that he is a fallen angel, communication with these spirits, whether the spirit is good or evil in nature, is generally not encouraged in Islam. Additionally, the concept of Tawassul recognises the existence of spirits on a higher plane of existence closer to God. Spiritism Spiritism, the branch of spiritualism developed by Allan Kardec, Occultism Spiritualism also differs from occult movements, such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn or the contemporary wiccan covens, in that spirits are not contacted to obtain magical powers. Eliphas Lévi, who is regarded as the founder of occultism, strongly rejected Spiritism, later on, Madame Blavatsky, the founder of the Theosophical Society, only practiced mediumship to contact powerful spirits capable of conferring esoteric knowledge
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Parapsychology
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It is identified as pseudoscience by the overwhelming majority of mainstream scientists. Parapsychology research is conducted by private institutions in several countries and funded through private donations. Most papers about parapsychology are published in a number of niche journals. Parapsychology has been criticised for continuing investigation despite being unable to provide convincing evidence for the existence of any psychic phenomena after more than a century of research and it has been noted that most academics do not take the claims of parapsychology seriously. Para is from Greek, and means beside, closely related to, the term parapsychology was coined in or around 1889 by philosopher Max Dessoir. Rhine in the 1930s as a replacement for the psychical research in order to indicate a significant shift toward experimental methodology. The term originates from the Greek, παρά para meaning alongside, in parapsychology, psi is the unknown factor in extrasensory perception and psychokinesis experiences that is not explained by known physical or biological mechanisms. The term is derived from the Greek ψ psi, 23rd letter of the Greek alphabet, the term was coined by biologist Berthold P. Wiesner, and first used by psychologist Robert Thouless in a 1942 article published in the British Journal of Psychology. The Parapsychological Association divides psi into two categories, psi-gamma for extrasensory perception and psi-kappa for psychokinesis. In popular culture, psi has become more and more synonymous with special psychic, mental, in 1853, the chemist Robert Hare conducted experiments with mediums and reported positive results. Other researchers such as Frank Podmore highlighted flaws in his experiments, agenor de Gasparin conducted early experiments into table-tipping. Over a period of five months in 1853 he declared the experiments a success being the result of an ectenic force, critics noted that the conditions were insufficient to prevent trickery. For example the knees of the sitters may have been employed to move the table and no experimenter was watching above, the German astrophysicist Johann Karl Friedrich Zöllner tested the medium Henry Slade in 1877. According to Zöllner some of the experiments were a success, however, flaws in the experiments were discovered and critics have suggested that Slade was a fraud who performed trickery in the experiments. The Society for Psychical Research was founded in London in 1882 and its formation was the first systematic effort to organize scientists and scholars to investigate paranormal phenomena. Early membership included philosophers, scholars, scientists, educators and politicians, such as Henry Sidgwick, Arthur Balfour, William Crookes, Rufus Osgood Mason and Nobel Laureate Charles Richet. Presidents of the Society included, in addition to Richet, Eleanor Sidgwick and William James, and subsequently Nobel Laureates Henri Bergson and Lord Rayleigh, and philosopher C. D. Broad. Areas of study included telepathy, hypnotism, Reichenbachs phenomena, apparitions, hauntings, in the 1880s the Society investigated apparitional experiences and hallucinations in the sane
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Orb (optics)
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In photography, an orb is a typically circular artifact on an image, created as a result of flash photography illuminating a mote of dust or other particle. Orbs are especially common with modern compact and ultra-compact digital cameras, orbs are also sometimes called backscatter, orb backscatter, or near-camera reflection. Some orbs appear with trails indicating motion, orbs are captured during low-light instances where the cameras flash is used. Cases include night or underwater photography, or where a light source is near the camera. Light appears much brighter very near the source due to the inverse-square law, the orb artifact can result from retroreflection of light off solid particles, such as dust or pollen, or liquid particles, especially rain. They can also be caused by foreign material within the camera lens, the image artifacts usually appear as either white or semi-transparent circles, though may also occur with whole or partial color spectra, purple fringing or other chromatic aberration. With rain droplets, an image may capture light passing through the droplet creating a rainbow effect. In underwater conditions, particles such as sand or small sea life close to the lens, invisible to the diver, Orb Bokeh Digital artifact Rod Rolling shutter Will-o-the-wisp The science of orb photos, by Mark Kimura The Orb Video Archive
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Paranormal
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A paranormal phenomenon is different from hypothetical concepts such as dark matter and dark energy. Unlike paranormal phenomena, these concepts are based on empirical observations. The most notable paranormal beliefs include those that pertain to ghosts, extraterrestrial life, unidentified flying objects, psychic abilities or extrasensory perception, the term paranormal has existed in the English language since at least 1920. The word consists of two parts, para and normal, the definition implies that the scientific explanation of the world around us is normal and anything that is above, beyond, or contrary to that is para. On the classification of paranormal subjects, Terence Hines in his book Pseudoscience, what sets the paranormal apart from other pseudosciences is a reliance on explanations for alleged phenomena that are well outside the bounds of established science. Thus, paranormal phenomena include extrasensory perception, telekinesis, ghosts, poltergeists, life after death, reincarnation, faith healing, human auras, the explanations for these allied phenomena are phrased in vague terms of psychic forces, human energy fields, and so on. This is in contrast to many pseudoscientific explanations for other nonparanormal phenomena, in traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is a manifestation of the spirit or soul of a person. Alternative theories expand on that idea and include belief in the ghosts of deceased animals, sometimes the term ghost is used synonymously with any spirit or demon, however in popular usage the term typically refers to a deceased persons spirit. The belief in ghosts as souls of the departed is closely tied to the concept of animism, as the 19th-century anthropologist George Frazer explained in his classic work, The Golden Bough, souls were seen as the creature within that animated the body. Although the evidence for ghosts is largely anecdotal, the belief in ghosts throughout history has remained widespread, the possibility of extraterrestrial life is not, by itself, a paranormal subject. Many scientists are engaged in the search for unicellular life within the solar system, carrying out studies on the surface of Mars. Projects such as SETI are conducting a search for radio activity that would show evidence of intelligent life outside the solar system. Scientific theories of how life developed on Earth allow for the possibility that life developed on other planets as well, the paranormal aspect of extraterrestrial life centers largely around the belief in unidentified flying objects and the phenomena said to be associated with them. Early in the history of UFO culture, believers divided themselves into two camps, the first held a rather conservative view of the phenomena, interpreting them as unexplained occurrences that merited serious study. They began calling themselves ufologists in the 1950s and felt that logical analysis of sighting reports would validate the notion of extraterrestrial visitation, the second camp consisted of individuals who coupled ideas of extraterrestrial visitation with beliefs from existing quasi-religious movements. These individuals typically were enthusiasts of occultism and the paranormal, many had backgrounds as active Theosophists, Spiritualists, or were followers of other esoteric doctrines. In contemporary times, many of these beliefs have coalesced into New Age spiritual movements, both secular and spiritual believers describe UFOs as having abilities beyond what are considered possible according to known aerodynamic constraints and physical laws. The transitory events surrounding many UFO sightings also limits the opportunity for repeat testing required by the scientific method, acceptance of UFO theories by the larger scientific community is further hindered by the many possible hoaxes associated with UFO culture
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Afterlife
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The afterlife is the concept of a realm, or the realm itself, in which an essential part of an individuals identity or consciousness continues to exist after the death of the body. Belief in an afterlife, which may be naturalistic or supernatural, is in contrast to the belief in oblivion after death, in this latter view, such rebirths and deaths may take place over and over again continuously until the individual gains entry to a spiritual realm or Otherworld. Major views on the afterlife derive from religion, esotericism and metaphysics, in metaphysical models, theists generally believe some type of afterlife awaits people when they die. Members of some generally non-theistic religions, tend to believe in an afterlife, the Sadducees were an ancient Jewish sect that generally believed that there was a God but no afterlife. Reincarnation refers to a concept found among Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, Rosicrucians, Theosophists, Spiritists. Reincarnation is also a belief described in Kabbalistic Judaism as gilgul neshamot and this succession leads toward an eventual liberation. One consequence of reincarnationist beliefs is that our current lives are both afterlife and a beforelife, according to those beliefs events in our current life are consequences of actions taken in previous lives, or Karma. In most denominations, heaven is a condition of reward for the righteous to go after they die, traditionally defined as eternal union with God. In contrast to heaven, hell is a condition of punishment and torment for the wicked, traditionally defined as eternal separation from God and confinement with other sinful souls and fallen angels. So they are seen as existing in a state of natural. In other Christian denominations it has described as an intermediate place or state of confinement in oblivion. The notion of purgatory is associated particularly with the Catholic Church, the tradition of the church, by reference to certain texts of scripture, speaks of a cleansing fire although it is not always called purgatory. Anglicans of the Anglo-Catholic tradition generally also hold to the belief, traditional African religions are diverse in their beliefs in an afterlife. For each soul remains distinct and each represents a new soul. In some societies like the Mende, multiple beliefs coexist, the Mende believe that people die twice, once during the process of joining the secret society, and again during biological death after which they become ancestors. However, some Mende also believe that people are created by God they live ten consecutive lives. One cross-cultural theme is that the ancestors are part of the world of the living, interacting with it regularly, the afterlife played an important role in Ancient Egyptian religion, and its belief system is one of the earliest known in recorded history. When the body died, parts of its known as ka
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Angel
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An angel, especially according to Abrahamic religions and Zoroastrianism, is a spiritual being superior to humans in power and intelligence. Most of them either as intermediaries between Heaven and Earth, or as guardian spirits. They are studied in the doctrine of angelology. In Christian Science, the angel is used to refer to an inspiration from God. In fine art, angels are depicted as having the shape of human beings of extraordinary beauty, they are often identified using the symbols of bird wings, halos. The word angel in English is a blend of Old English engel, both derive from Late Latin angelus messenger, which in turn was borrowed from Late Greek ἄγγελος ángelos. According to R. S. P. Beekes, ángelos itself may be an Oriental loan, the words earliest form is Mycenaean a-ke-ro attested in Linear B syllabic script. The ángelos is the default Septuagints translation of the Biblical Hebrew term mal’ākh denoting simply messenger without specifying its nature. In the Latin Vulgate, however, the meaning becomes bifurcated, if the word refers to some supernatural being, the word angelus appears. Such differentiation has been taken over by later vernacular translations of the Bible, early Christian and Jewish exegetes, in Zoroastrianism there are different angel-like figures. For example, each person has one guardian angel, called Fravashi and they patronize human beings and other creatures, and also manifest Gods energy. In the commentaries of Proclus on the Timaeus of Plato, Proclus uses the terminology of angelic, according to Aristotle, just as there is a First Mover, so, too, must there be spiritual secondary movers. The Torah uses the terms מלאך אלהים, מלאך יהוה, בני אלהים and הקודשים to refer to beings traditionally interpreted as angels, later texts use other terms, such as העליונים. The term מלאך is also used in books of the Tanakh. Depending on the context, the Hebrew word may refer to a messenger or to a supernatural messenger. Daniel is the first biblical figure to refer to individual angels by name, mentioning Gabriel in Daniel 9,21 and these angels are part of Daniels apocalyptic visions and are an important part of all apocalyptic literature. One of these is hāšāṭān, a figure depicted in the Book of Job, philo of Alexandria identifies the angel with the Logos inasmuch as the angel is the immaterial voice of God. The angel is something different from God himself, but is conceived as Gods instrument, in post-Biblical Judaism, certain angels took on particular significance and developed unique personalities and roles
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Astral projection
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The idea of astral travel is rooted in esotericism and occultism, and was promoted by 19th century Theosophists—philosophers who explored the mystical and preternatural origins of the natural world. It is sometimes reported in association with dreams, and forms of meditation, some individuals have reported perceptions similar to descriptions of astral projection that were induced through various hallucinogenic and hypnotic means. There is no evidence that there is a consciousness or soul which is separate from normal neural activity or that one can consciously leave the body. Claims of scientific evidence of astral projection are pseudoscientific and these astral spheres were held to be populated by angels, demons and spirits. The subtle bodies, and their planes of existence, form an essential part of the esoteric systems that deal with astral phenomena. In the neo-platonism of Plotinus, for example, the individual is a microcosm of the universe, the rational soul. is akin to the great Soul of the World while the material universe, like the body, is made as a faded image of the Intelligible. Often these bodies and their planes of existence are depicted as a series of circles or nested spheres. Some have claimed that the Bible contains mentions of astral projection, Carrington, Muldoon, Peterson, and Williams—renowned experts in the field of astral projection—claim that the subtle body is attached to the physical body by means of a psychic silver cord. Scherman, however, contends that the points to this being merely a metaphor, comparing the body to a machine. Pauls Second Epistle to the Corinthians is more generally agreed to refer to the planes, I know a man in Christ, fourteen years ago. This statement gave rise to the Visio Pauli, a tract that offers a vision of heaven and hell, similar concepts of soul travel appear in various other religious traditions. For example, ancient Egyptian teachings present the soul as having the ability to hover outside the body via the ka. Taoist alchemical practice involves creation of a body by breathing meditations. With a drum as his pillow fell fast asleep, snoring and his primordial spirit, however, went straight into the banquet room and said, My lords, here I am again. With the officials to take a look, there really was a Taoist sleeping on the ground, yet inside, in the side room, there was another Taoist beating a fisher drum and singing Taoist songs. The officials all said, Although there are two different people, their faces and clothes are exactly alike, clearly he is a divine immortal who can divide his body and appear in several places at once. At that moment, the Taoist in the room came walking out. Similar ideas such as the Linga Sari-ra are found in ancient Hindu scriptures such as the YogaVashishta-Maharamayana of Valmiki and he may then undertake astral journeys in his astral body, leaving the physical body in sleep or wakefulness
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Aura (paranormal)
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In parapsychology and spiritual practice, an aura is an apparent field of subtle, luminous radiation that some people say surrounds a person or object. Halos or aureola are often depicted in art to connote a person of particular power or holiness. It is said that all objects and all living things manifest such an aura, often it is held to be perceptible, whether spontaneously or with practice, such perception is at times linked with the third eye of Indian spirituality. Various writers associate various personality traits with the colors of different layers of the aura and it has also been described as a map of the thoughts and feelings surrounding a person. Skeptics such as Robert Todd Carroll contend that people may perceive auras because of effects within the brain, synesthesia, epilepsy, migraines, other causes may include disorders within the visual system provoking optical effects. Eye fatigue can also produce an aura, sometimes referred to as eye burn, in Iran the aura is known as farr or glory, it is depicted in association with Zoroastrian kings. Ideas of the aura are represented in Indian religions. In tantric tradition of Hinduism, aura represents the body of seven colours. In many Hindu paintings of gods and goddesses, aura is marked on their backhead, the Buddhist flag represents the colours seen around the enlightened Buddha. In Jainism the concept of Lesya relates colours to mental and emotional dispositions, to the Indian teacher Meher Baba the aura is of seven colours, associated with the subtle body and its store of mental and emotional impressions. Spiritual practice gradually transforms this aura into a spiritual halo, Hindu and Buddhist sources often link these colours to Kundalini energy and the chakras. The symbolism of light found in the Bible is at times associated with the idea of the aura or body of light, according to the literature of Theosophy, Anthroposophy, and Archeosophy also, each colour of the aura has a meaning, indicating a precise emotional state. A complete description of the aura and its colours was provided by Charles Leadbeater, the works of Leadbeater were later developed by Palamidessi and others. The British occultist W. E. Butler connected auras with clairvoyance and etheric and he classified the aura into two main types, etheric and spiritual. Auras are thought to serve as a measure of the state of the health of the physical body. Robert Bruce classifies auras into three types, etheric, main, and spiritual, according to Bruce auras are not actual light but a translation of other unknown sensory readings that is added to our visual processing. They are not seen in darkness and cannot be seen unless some portion of the person or object emitting the aura can also be seen. Glenn Morris, grandmaster of the Hoshin Roshi Ryu lineage, included perception of the aura in his training of advanced martial artists and his experience was that it consisted of multiple layers
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Bilocation
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Bilocation, or sometimes multilocation, is an alleged psychic or miraculous ability wherein an individual or object is located in two distinct places at the same time. The concept has been used in a range of historical and philosophical systems, ranging from early Greek philosophy to modern religious stories, occultism. Several Christian saints, monks and Muslim sufis are said to have exhibited bilocation, among the earliest is the apparition of Our Lady of the Pillar in the year 40. St Isidore the Laborer claimed to be praying or attending to Mass in Church while at the same time plowing in the fields, in the 17th century, persons accused of witchcraft were reported to appear in dreams and visions of witnesses. The trials at Bury St. Edmunds and Salem included this spectral evidence against defendants, matthew Hopkins described the phenomenon in his book The Discovery of Witches. The English occultist Aleister Crowley was reported by acquaintances to have the ability, bilocation figures heavily in David Lynchs film Lost Highway and Thomas Pynchons novel Against the Day. A mystical story that involved Soviet author Yevgeny Petrov served as inspiration for the film Envelope starring Kevin Spacey, skeptical investigator Joe Nickell has written that there is no scientific evidence that bilocation is a real phenomenon and that cases are often from anecdotal reports that cannot be verified. Nickell listed self-delusion, hoaxing and illusion to explain alleged cases of bilocation, apparitional experience Doppelgänger Etiäinen Flying saints Kefitzat Haderech List of topics characterized as pseudoscience Remote viewing Tay al-Arz Vardøger
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Clairvoyance
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The term clairvoyance is the alleged ability to gain information about an object, person, location or physical event through extrasensory perception. Any person who is claimed to have such ability is said accordingly to be a clairvoyant. Claims for the existence of paranormal and psychic abilities such as clairvoyance have not been supported by scientific evidence published in high impact peer reviewed journals. Parapsychology explores this possibility, but the existence of the paranormal is not accepted by the scientific community, Parapsychology, including the study of clairvoyance, is an example of pseudoscience. Pertaining to the ability of clear-sightedness, clairvoyance refers to the ability to see persons. Throughout history, there have been numerous places and times in which people have claimed themselves or others to be clairvoyant, jesus Christ in the gospels is also recorded as being able to know things that were far removed from His immediate human perception. In most of cases, however, the ability to see things was attributed to a higher power. In Jainism, clairvoyance is regarded as one of the five kinds of knowledge, the beings of hell and heaven are said to possess clairvoyance by birth. According to Jain text Sarvārthasiddhi, this kind of knowledge has been called avadhi as it ascertains matter in downward range or knows objects within limits. The earliest record of somnambulistic clairvoyance is credited to the Marquis de Puységur, a follower of Franz Mesmer, early researchers of clairvoyance included William Gregory, Gustav Pagenstecher, and Rudolf Tischner. Clairvoyance experiments were reported in 1884 by Charles Richet, playing cards were enclosed in envelopes and a subject put under hypnosis attempted to identify them. The subject was reported to have successful in a series of 133 trials. Pickering reported an experiment in which they tested 36 subjects over 23,384 trials which did not obtain above chance scores. Ivor Lloyd Tuckett and Joseph McCabe analyzed early cases of clairvoyance, in 1919, the magician P. T. Selbit staged a séance at his own flat in Bloomsbury. The spiritualist Arthur Conan Doyle attended the séance and declared the clairvoyance manifestations to be genuine, a significant development in clairvoyance research came when J. B. Rhine, a parapsychologist at Duke University, introduced a methodology, with a standard statistical approach to analyzing data. A number of psychological departments attempted to repeat Rhines experiments with failure, W. S. Cox from Princeton University with 132 subjects produced 25,064 trials in a playing card ESP experiment. Cox concluded There is no evidence of extrasensory perception either in the man or of the group investigated or in any particular individual of that group
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Evocation
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Evocation is the act of calling upon or summoning a spirit, demon, god or other supernatural agent, in the Western mystery tradition. Comparable practices exist in many religions and magical traditions and may employ the use of mind-altering substances with, the Latin word evocatio was the calling forth or summoning away of a citys tutelary deity. Evocatio was thus a kind of ritual dodge to mitigate looting of sacred objects or images from shrines that would otherwise be sacrilegious or impious, the calling forth of spirits was a relatively common practice in Neoplatonism, theurgy and other esoteric systems of antiquity. In contemporary western esotericism, the magic of the grimoires is frequently seen as the example of this idea. The grimoires provided a variety of methods of evocation, the spirits are, in many cases, commanded in the name of God - most commonly using cabalistic and Hellenic barbarous names added together to form long litanies. The magician used wands, staves, incense and fire, daggers and complex diagrams drawn on parchment or upon the ground. In Enochian magic, spirits are evoked into a ball or mirror, in which a human volunteer is expected to be able to see the spirit and hear its voice. Sometimes such a seer might be a medium, speaking as the spirit. In other cases the spirit might be housed in a symbolic image, the magician is thought to gain authority among the spirits only by purity, worship and personal devotion and study. In more recent usage, evocation refers to the out of lesser spirits. This sort of evocation is contrasted with invocation, in which powers are called into the self from a divine source. Important contributors to the concept of evocation include Henry Cornelius Agrippa, Francis Barrett, Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers, Aleister Crowley, Franz Bardon, the work of all of these authors can be seen as attempts to systematize and modernize the grimoiric procedure of evocation. Conjuration in traditional and most contemporary usage refers to an act of invoking spirits or using incantations or charms to cast magical spells. In the context of legerdemain, it may refer to the performance of illusion or magic tricks for show. This article discusses mainly the original and primary usage, describing acts of a supernatural or paranormal nature, the word conjuration can be interpreted in several different ways, as an invocation or evocation, as an exorcism, and as an act of producing effects by magical means. The word is used synonymously with terms such as invocation or evocation or summoning. The term conjuring is also used as a term for casting spells in some magical traditions. In that context, amulets and talismans are often kept in a bag and conjuring oils may be used to anoint candles and other magical supplies
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Deity
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A deity is a concept conceived in diverse ways in various cultures, typically as a natural or supernatural being considered divine or sacred. A male deity is a god, while a female deity is a goddess, the Oxford reference defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. Various cultures have conceptualized a deity differently than a monotheistic God, a plain deity need not be omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, omnibenevolent, or eternal, however an almighty monotheistic God generally does have these attributes. Monotheistic religions typically refer to God in masculine terms, while other religions refer to their deities in a variety of ways – masculine, feminine, androgynous, some Avestan and Vedic deities were viewed as ethical concepts. In Indian religions, deities have been envisioned as manifesting within the temple of every living beings body, as sensory organs, but in Indian religions, all deities are also subject to death when their merit runs out. The English language word deity derives from Old French deité, the Latin deitatem or divine nature, deus is related through a common Proto-Indo-European language origin to *deiwos. Deva is masculine, and the feminine equivalent is devi. Etymologically, the cognates of Devi are Latin dea and Greek thea, in Old Persian, daiva- means demon, evil god, while in Sanskrit it means the opposite, referring to the heavenly, divine, terrestrial things of high excellence, exalted, shining ones. The closely linked term god refers to supreme being, deity, which states Douglas Harper, is derived from Proto-Germanic *guthan, from PIE *ghut-, guth in the Irish language means voice. The term *ghut- is also the source of Old Church Slavonic zovo, Sanskrit huta-, from the root *gheu- An alternate etymology for the term god traces it to the PIE root *ghu-to-, the term *gheu- is also the source of the Greek khein to pour. Originally the German root was a noun, but the gender of the monotheistic God shifted to masculine under the influence of Christianity. In contrast, all ancient Indo-European cultures and mythologies recognized both masculine and feminine deities, the term deity often connotes the concept of sacred or divine, as a god or goddess, in a polytheistic religion. However, there is no accepted consensus concept of deity across religions and cultures. Huw Owen states that the deity or god or its equivalent in other languages has a bewildering range of meanings. Some engravings or sketches show animals, hunters or rituals, the Venus of Willendorf, a female figurine found in Europe and dated to about 25,000 BCE has been interpreted as an exemplar of a prehistoric divine feminine. In Buddhist mythology, devas are beings inhabiting certain happily placed worlds of Buddhist cosmology and these beings are mortal and numerous. It is also common for iṣṭadevatās to be called deities, although the nature of Yidams is distinct from what is meant by the term. Buddhism does not believe in a creator deity, however, deities are an essential part of Buddhist cosmology, rebirth and Saṃsāra doctrines
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Demon
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A demon is a supernatural, mythological and often malevolent being prevalent in religion, occultism, literature, fiction, mythology and folklore. The original Greek word daimon does not carry the negative connotation initially understood by implementation of the Koine δαιμόνιον, the Ancient Greek word δαίμων daimōn denotes a spirit or divine power, much like the Latin genius or numen. Daimōn most likely came from the Greek verb daiesthai, the Greek conception of a daimōn notably appears in the works of Plato, where it describes the divine inspiration of Socrates. To distinguish the classical Greek concept from its later Christian interpretation, the Greek terms do not have any connotations of evil or malevolence. In fact, εὐδαιμονία eudaimonia, means happiness, far into the Byzantine period Christians eyed their cities old pagan statuary as a seat of the demons presence. It was no longer beautiful, it was infested, the term had first acquired its negative connotations in the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek, which drew on the mythology of ancient Semitic religions. This was then inherited by the Koine text of the New Testament, the Western medieval and neo-medieval conception of a demon derives seamlessly from the ambient popular culture of Late Antiquity. The Hellenistic daemon eventually came to include many Semitic and Near Eastern gods as evaluated by Christianity, the supposed existence of demons remains an important concept in many modern religions and occultist traditions. Demons are still feared largely due to their power to possess living creatures. In the contemporary Western occultist tradition, a demon is a metaphor for certain inner psychological processes. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, In Chaldean mythology the seven evil deities were known as shedu, storm-demons and they were represented as winged bulls, derived from the colossal bulls used as protective jinn of royal palaces. From Chaldea, the term shedu traveled to the Israelites, the writers of the Tanach applied the word as a dialogism to Canaanite deities. There are indications that demons in popular Hebrew mythology were believed to come from the nether world, various diseases and ailments were ascribed to them, particularly those affecting the brain and those of internal nature. Examples include catalepsy, headache, epilepsy and nightmares, there also existed a demon of blindness, Shabriri who rested on uncovered water at night and blinded those who drank from it. Demons supposedly entered the body and caused the disease while overwhelming or seizing the victim, to cure such diseases, it was necessary to draw out the evil demons by certain incantations and talismanic performances, at which the Essenes excelled. In mythology, there were few defences against Babylonian demons, the mythical mace Sharur had the power to slay demons such as Asag, a legendary gallu or edimmu of hideous strength. As referring to the existence or non-existence of shedim there are converse opinions in Judaism, there are practically nil roles assigned to demons in the Jewish Bible. In conclusion, Jews are not obligated to believe in the existence of shedim, the word shedim appears only in two places in the Tanakh
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Demonology
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Demonology is the study of demons or beliefs about demons, especially the methods used to summon and control them. The original sense of demon, from the time of Homer onward, was a benevolent being, the word demonology is from Greek δαίμων, daimōn, divinity, divine power, god, and -λογία, -logia. According to some societies, all the affairs of life are supposed to be under the control of spirits, each ruling a certain element or even object, and themselves in subjection to a greater spirit. For example, the Inuit are said to believe in spirits of the sea, earth and sky, the winds, every cove of the seashore, every point, every island and prominent rock has its guardian spirit. All are potentially of the malignant type, to be propitiated by an appeal to knowledge of the supernatural, traditional Korean belief posits countless demons inhabit the natural world, they fill household objects and are present in all locations. By the thousands they accompany travelers, seeking them out from their places in the elements, in ancient Babylon, demonology had an influence on even the most mundane elements of life, from petty annoyances to the emotions of love and hatred. The numerous demonic spirits were given charge over various parts of the body, one for the head, one for the neck. Many religions and cultures believe, or once believed, that what is now known as soothsaying, was, or is, the ascription of malevolence to the world of spirits is by no means universal. In Central Africa, the Mpongwe believe in spirits, just as do the Inuit. Demons are generally classified as spirits which are believed to enter into relations with the human race. As such the term includes, angels in the Judeo-Christian tradition that fell from grace, human souls regarded as genii or familiars, such as receive a cult, excluded are souls conceived as inhabiting another world. The incubi and Succubi of the Middle Ages are sometimes regarded as spiritual beings, belief in demons goes back many millennia. The Zoroastrian faith teaches that there are 3,333 Demons, some with specific dark responsibilities such as war, starvation, sickness, in Babylonian mythology, the seven evil deities were known as shedu, or storm-demons. It was from Chaldea that the name came to the Israelites. They also spoke of the destroyer as a Lord who will strike down the Egyptians, in II Samuel xxiv,16 and II Chronicles xxi.15 the pestilence-dealing angel, that is spirit, called the destroying angel. The followers of Mara were also called mara, the devils, the mara became fully assimilated into the Chinese worldview, and were called mo. D. Demonic forces had attained power in the world. Medieval Chinese Buddhist demonology was heavily influenced by Indian Buddhism, in his autobiography, The Blazing Splendor, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, a prominent Tibetan Buddhist master of the 20th century describes encounters with such beings
30.
Devil
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The Devil is, according to Christianity, the primary opponent of God. Islam identifies the Devil with all those who oppose Allah, some non-Abrahamic religions contain figures similar to the Devil, such as the Buddhist demon Mara and the Zoroastrian spirit Angra Mainyu. The Modern English word devil descends from the Middle English devel, from Old English dēofol, that in turn represents an early Germanic borrowing of Latin diabolus. This in turn was borrowed from Ancient Greek Greek, διάβολος, slanderer, from Greek, διαβάλλειν to slander, διά- across, through + βάλλειν to hurl, probably akin to the Sanskrit gurate he lifts up. In the New Testament, Satan occurs more than 30 times in passages alongside diábolos, in mainstream Judaism there is no concept of a devil as in mainstream Christianity or Islam. Texts make no direct link between the serpent that tempts Eve in the Garden of Eden in Genesis and the references to Satan are in Zechariah. For the Hasidim of the century, ha-satan was Baal Davar. In the Book of Wisdom, the devil is represented as the one who brought death into the world, a similar story is found in 1 Enoch, however, in that book, the leader of the Grigori is called Semjâzâ. In the apocryphal literature, Satan rules over a host of angels, mastema, who induced God to test Abraham through the sacrifice of Isaac, is identical with Satan in both name and nature. The Book of Enoch contains references to Sathariel, thought also to be Sataniel and Satanel, the similar spellings mirror that of his angelic brethren Michael, Raphael, Uriel and Gabriel, previous to his expulsion from Heaven. In mainstream Christianity the devil is usually referred to as Satan, some modern Christians consider the devil to be an angel who, along with one-third of the angelic host rebelled against God and has consequently been condemned to the Lake of Fire. He is described as hating all humanity, opposing God, spreading lies, other modern Christians consider the devil in the Bible to refer figuratively to human sin and temptation and to any immoral human system. Satan is often identified as the serpent who convinced Eve to eat the fruit, thus. He is also identified as the dragon in the Book of Revelation, beelzebub is originally the name of a Philistine god but is also used in the New Testament as a synonym for Satan. A corrupted version, Belzeboub, appears in The Divine Comedy, in Islam the Devil is referred to as Iblis or sometimes the Shaytan. Etymologically, Iblis means the desperate in Arabic, thus, the name Iblis can be seen as a sobriquet given to Shaitan after falling from Grace. The primary characteristic of the Devil, besides hubris, is that he has no other than the power to cast evil suggestions into the hearts of men and women. He was of the jinn and departed from the command of his Lord, then will you take him and his descendants as allies other than Me while they are enemies to you
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Electronic voice phenomenon
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Parapsychologist Konstantīns Raudive, who popularized the idea in the 1970s, described EVP as typically brief, usually the length of a word or short phrase. Enthusiasts consider EVP to be a form of paranormal phenomenon often found in recordings with static or other background noise, however, psychologists regard EVP as a form of auditory pareidolia and a pseudoscience promulgated by popular culture. Rational explanations for EVP include apophenia, equipment artifacts, and hoaxes, so popular were such ideas that Thomas Edison was asked in an interview with Scientific American to comment on the possibility of using his inventions to communicate with spirits. However, there is no indication that Edison ever designed or constructed a device for such a purpose, as sound recording became widespread, mediums explored using this technology to demonstrate communication with the dead as well. Spiritualism declined in the part of the 20th century, but attempts to use portable recording devices. American photographer Attila von Szalay was among the first to try recording what he believed to be voices of the dead as a way to augment his investigations in photographing ghosts. He began his attempts in 1941 using a 78 rpm record, but it wasnt until 1956, after switching to a tape recorder. Szalay reported finding many sounds on the tape that could not be heard on the speaker at the time of recording and he believed these sounds to be the voices of discarnate spirits. Among the first recordings believed to be spirit voices were such messages as This is G, hot dog, Art. and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all. Von Szalay and Raymond Bayless work was published by the Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research in 1959, Bayless later went on to co-author the 1979 book, Phone Calls From the Dead. In 1959, Swedish painter and film producer Friedrich Jürgenson was recording bird songs, upon playing the tape later, he heard what he interpreted to be his dead fathers voice and then the spirit of his deceased wife calling his name. He went on to several more recordings, including one that he said contained a message from his late mother. Some of these recordings were conducted in an RF-screened laboratory and contained words Raudive said were identifiable, in an attempt to confirm the content of his collection of recordings, Raudive invited listeners to hear and interpret them. In 1980, William ONeil constructed an electronic device called The Spiricom. ONeil claimed the device was built to specifications which he received psychically from George Mueller, however, nobody is known to have replicated the results ONeil claimed using their own Spiricom devices. Sumption claims he received his instructions from the spirit world. The device is described as a white noise generator and AM radio receiver modified to sweep back. ITC enthusiasts also look at the TV and video camera feedback loop of the Droste effect, in 1979, parapsychologist D. Rosemary Guiley has written within the parapsychology establishment, Rogo was often faulted for poor scholarship, which, critics said, led to erroneous conclusions
32.
Exorcism
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Exorcism is the religious or spiritual practice of purportedly evicting demons or other spiritual entities from a person or an area they are believed to have possessed. The practice is ancient and part of the system of many cultures. There was “a 50% increase in the number of exorcisms performed between the early 1960s and the mid-1970s”, in Christianity, exorcism is the practice of casting out demons. In Christian practice the person performing the exorcism, known as an exorcist, is often a member of the Christian Church, the exorcist may use prayers and religious material, such as set formulas, gestures, symbols, icons, amulets, etc. The exorcist often invokes God, Jesus and/or several different angels and archangels to intervene with the exorcism, a survey of Christian exorcists found that most exorcists believe that any mature Christian can perform an exorcism, not just members of clergy. Christian exorcists most commonly believe the authority given to them by the Father, Son, therefore, practitioners regard exorcism as more of a cure than a punishment. The mainstream rituals usually take this account, making sure that there is no violence to the possessed. In Catholic Christianity, exorcisms are performed in the name of Jesus Christ. A distinction is made between a formal exorcism, which can only be conducted by a priest during a baptism or with the permission of a Bishop, the Catholic rite for a formal exorcism, called a Major Exorcism, is given in Section 11 of the Rituale Romanum. The Ritual lists guidelines for conducting an exorcism, and for determining when a formal exorcism is required, priests are instructed to carefully determine that the nature of the affliction is not actually a psychological or physical illness before proceeding. In Catholic practice the person performing the exorcism, known as an exorcist, is an ordained priest, the exorcist recites prayers according to the rubrics of the rite, and may make use of religious materials such as icons and sacramentals. The exorcist invokes God—specifically the Name of Jesus—as well as members of the Church Triumphant, according to Catholic understanding, several weekly exorcisms over many years are sometimes required to expel a deeply entrenched demon. In general, possessed persons are not regarded as evil in themselves, therefore, practitioners regard exorcism as a cure and not some kind of punishment. Beliefs and practices pertaining to the practice of exorcism are prominently connected with Hindus, of the four Vedas, the Atharva Veda is said to contain the secrets related to exorcism, magic and alchemy. The basic means of exorcism are the mantra and the used in both Vedic and Tantric traditions. Vaishnava traditions also employ a recitation of names of Narasimha and reading scriptures and it is also believed that, praying to Lord Hanuman, gives the best result. It is also mentioned in the Hanuman Chalisa and it is believed that just uttering the name of Lord Hanuman makes the evil forces and devils tremble, in fear. The main puranic resource on ghost and death-related information is Garuda Purana, a complete description of birth and death and also about the human soul are explained in Katō Upanishad, a part of Yajur Veda
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Extrasensory perception
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Extrasensory perception, ESP or Esper, also called sixth sense, includes reception of information not gained through the recognized physical senses but sensed with the mind. The term was adopted by Duke University psychologist J. B, Rhine to denote psychic abilities such as intuition, telepathy, psychometry, clairaudience, and clairvoyance, and their trans-temporal operation as precognition or retrocognition. Parapsychology is the study of psychic phenomena, including ESP. Parapsychology has been criticized for continuing investigation despite being unable to provide convincing evidence for the existence of any psychic phenomena after more than a century of research, in the 1930s, at Duke University in North Carolina, J. B. Rhine and his wife Louisa E. Rhine conducted investigation into extrasensory perception, while Louisa Rhine concentrated on collecting accounts of spontaneous cases, J. B. Rhine worked largely in the laboratory, carefully defining terms such as ESP and psi, a simple set of cards was developed, originally called Zener cards – now called ESP cards. They bear the symbols circle, square, wavy lines, cross, in a telepathy experiment, the sender looks at a series of cards while the receiver guesses the symbols. To try to observe clairvoyance, the pack of cards is hidden from everyone while the receiver guesses, to try to observe precognition, the order of the cards is determined after the guesses are made. Later he used dice to test for psychokinesis, the parapsychology experiments at Duke evoked criticism from academics and others who challenged the concepts and evidence of ESP. A number of psychological departments attempted to repeat Rhines experiments with failure, W. S. Cox from Princeton University with 132 subjects produced 25,064 trials in a playing card ESP experiment. Cox concluded There is no evidence of extrasensory perception either in the man or of the group investigated or in any particular individual of that group. The discrepancy between these results and those obtained by Rhine is due either to uncontrollable factors in experimental procedure or to the difference in the subjects, four other psychological departments failed to replicate Rhines results. This called for experimental procedures that were not limited to Rhines favored forced-choice methodology, such procedures have included dream telepathy experiments, and the ganzfeld experiments. The scientific consensus does not view extrasensory perception as a real phenomenon, There are many criticisms pertaining to experiments involving Extrasensory Perception, particularly surrounding methodological flaws. These flaws are not unique to an experimental design, and are effective in discrediting much of the positive research surrounding ESP. Many of the flaws seen in the Zener card experiment are present in the Ganzfeld experiment as well, first is the stacking effect, an error that occurs in ESP research. Trial-by-trial feedback given in using a “closed” ESP target sequence violates the condition of independence used for most standard statistical tests. Multiple responses for a single target cannot be evaluated using statistical tests that assume independence of responses and this increases likelihood of card counting and in turn, increases the chances for the subject to guess correctly without using ESP
34.
Fairy
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A fairy is a type of mythical being or legendary creature in European folklore, a form of spirit, often described as metaphysical, supernatural, or preternatural. According to Thomas Keightley, the word derives from the Latin fata. Other forms are the Italian fata, and the Provençal fada, in old French romance, fee was a woman skilled in magic, and who knew the power and virtue of words, of stones, and of herbs. Faierie became fairy, but with that now almost exclusively referring to one of the legendary people. The word fairy was used to represent an illusion, or enchantment, to the word faie was added the suffix -erie, used to express either a place where something is found or a trade or typical activity engaged in. In later usage it applied to any kind of quality or activity associated with a particular type of person. In the sense land where fairies dwell, the distinctive and archaic spellings Faery, the latinate fay is not to be confused with the unrelated fey, meaning fated to die. Various folkloristic traditions refer to them euphemistically, by such as wee folk, good folk, people of peace, fair folk. Sometimes the term fairy is used to any magical creature, including goblins or gnomes, at other times. Fairies have their origin in the conflation of Celtic traditions in the Middle French medieval romances. Fairie was in origin used adjectivally, meaning enchanted, but was used as a name for enchanted creatures from as early as the Late Middle English period. In English literature of the Elizabethan era, elves became conflated with the fairies of Romance culture, the Victorian and Edwardian eras saw an increase in interest in fairies. The Celtic Revival viewed them as part of Irelands cultural heritage, carole Silvers and others suggest that the fascination of English antiquarians arose from a reaction to greater industrialization, and loss of folkways. Fairies are generally described as human in appearance and having magical powers, even with these small fairies, however, their small size may be magically assumed rather than constant. Some fairies though normally quite small were able to dilate their figures to imitate humans, on Orkney they were described as short in stature, dressed in dark grey, and sometimes seen in armour. Wings, while common in Victorian and later artwork of fairies, are rare in the folklore, even very small fairies flew with magic. Nowadays, fairies are depicted with ordinary insect wings or butterfly wings. In some folklore, fairies have green eyes, some depictions of fairies either have them wearing some sort of footwear and other depictions of fairies are always barefoot
35.
Charles Fort
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Charles Hoy Fort was an American writer and researcher who specialized in anomalous phenomena. The terms Fortean and Forteana are sometimes used to various such phenomena. Forts books sold well and are still in print and his work continues to inspire admirers, who refer to themselves as Forteans, and has influenced some aspects of science fiction. Forts collections of scientific anomalies including The Book of the Damned influenced numerous science fiction writers with their iconoclastic skepticism, Fortean phenomena are events which seem to challenge the boundaries of accepted scientific knowledge, and the Fortean Times investigates such phenomena. Fort was born in Albany, New York in 1874, of Dutch ancestry and his father, a grocer, was an authoritarian and, in his unpublished autobiography Many Parts, Fort mentions the physical abuse he endured from his father. Forts biographer, Damon Knight, suggested that his distrust of authority began in his treatment as a child, Fort developed a strong sense of independence during his early years. As a young adult, Fort wanted to be a naturalist, collecting sea shells, minerals, although Fort was described as curious and intelligent, he was not a good student. An autodidact, his knowledge of the world was due mainly to his extensive personal reading. At age 18, Fort left New York to embark on a tour to put some capital in the bank of experience. He travelled through the western United States, Scotland, and England, when he returned home, he was nursed by Anna Filing, whom he had known since childhood. They were married on October 26,1896, Anna, four years older than Fort, was non-literary, a lover of movies and of parakeets. His success as a story writer was intermittent between periods of poverty and melancholia. His uncle died during 1916, and a modest inheritance gave Fort enough money to quit his various day jobs, in 1917, Forts brother Clarence died, his portion of the same inheritance was divided between Fort and Raymond. Fort wrote ten novels, although one, The Outcast Manufacturers. Reviews were mostly positive, but it was unsuccessful commercially and these books caught the attention of writer Theodore Dreiser, who attempted to get them published, but to no avail. The title referred to damned data that Fort collected, phenomena for which science could not account, Fort and Anna lived in London from 1924 to 1926, having relocated there so Fort could peruse the files of the British Museum. Although born in Albany, Fort lived most of his life in the Bronx, Fort frequented the parks near the Bronx, where he would sift through piles of his clippings. Fort also had literary friends who would gather on occasion at various apartments, including his own, to drink
36.
Ghost story
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A ghost story may be any piece of fiction, or drama, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or characters belief in them. The ghost may appear of its own accord or be summoned by magic, linked to the ghost is the idea of hauntings, where a supernatural entity is tied to a place, object or person. Colloquially, the term ghost story can refer to any kind of scary story, in a narrower sense, the ghost story has been developed as a short story format, within genre fiction. It is a form of fiction and specifically of weird fiction. While ghost stories are often meant to be scary, they have been written to serve all sorts of purposes. Ghosts often appear in the narrative as sentinels or prophets of things to come, belief in ghosts is found in all cultures around the world, and thus ghost stories may be passed down orally or in written form. A widespread belief concerning ghosts is that they are composed of a misty, airy, belief in ghosts is found in all cultures around the world, and thus ghost stories may be passed down orally or in written form. The campfire story, a form of storytelling, often involves recounting ghost stories. Some of the stories are old, with varying versions across multiple cultures. Many schools and educational institutions encourage ghost storytelling as part of literature, in 1929, five key features of the English ghost story were identified in Some Remarks on Ghost Stories by M. R. James. The play Mostellaria, by the Roman playwright Plautus, is the earliest known work to feature a haunted dwelling, another early account of a haunted place comes from an account by Pliny the Younger. Pliny describes the haunting of a house in Athens by a ghost bound in chains, ghosts often appeared in the tragedies of the Roman writer Seneca, who would later influence the revival of tragedy on the Renaissance stage, particularly Thomas Kyd and Shakespeare. The One Thousand and One Nights, sometimes known as Arabian Nights, contains a number of ghost stories, often involving jinn, ghouls, in particular, the tale of Ali the Cairene and the Haunted House in Baghdad revolves around a house haunted by jinns. Other medieval Arabic literature, such as the Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity, the 11th century Japanese work The Tale of Genji contains ghost stories, and includes characters being possessed by spirits. In the mid-16th century, the works of Seneca were rediscovered by Italian humanists, senecas influence is particularly evident in Thomas Kyds The Spanish Tragedy and Shakespeares Hamlet, both of which share a revenge theme, a corpse-strewn climax, and ghosts among the cast. The ghosts in Richard III also resemble the Senecan model, while the ghost in Hamlet plays a complex role. The shade of Hamlets murdered father in Hamlet has become one of the more recognizable ghosts in English literature, in another of Shakespeare’s works, Macbeth, the murdered Banquo returns as a ghost to the dismay of the title character. In English Renaissance theatre, ghosts were often depicted in the garb of the living, armour, being out-of-date by the time of the Renaissance, gave the stage ghost a sense of antiquity
37.
God
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In monotheism, God is conceived of as the Supreme Being and principal object of faith. The concept of God as described by most theologians includes the attributes of omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, divine simplicity, many theologians also describe God as being omnibenevolent and all loving. Furthermore, some religions attribute only a purely grammatical gender to God, incorporeity and corporeity of God are related to conceptions of transcendence and immanence of God, with positions of synthesis such as the immanent transcendence of Chinese theology. God has been conceived as personal or impersonal. In theism, God is the creator and sustainer of the universe, while in deism, God is the creator, in pantheism, God is the universe itself. In atheism, God is not believed to exist, while God is deemed unknown or unknowable within the context of agnosticism, God has also been conceived as the source of all moral obligation, and the greatest conceivable existent. Many notable philosophers have developed arguments for and against the existence of God, there are many names for God, and different names are attached to different cultural ideas about Gods identity and attributes. In the ancient Egyptian era of Atenism, possibly the earliest recorded monotheistic religion, this deity was called Aten, premised on being the one true Supreme Being and creator of the universe. In the Hebrew Bible and Judaism, He Who Is, I Am that I Am, in the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, God, consubstantial in three persons, is called the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In Judaism, it is common to refer to God by the titular names Elohim or Adonai, in Islam, the name Allah is used, while Muslims also have a multitude of titular names for God. In Hinduism, Brahman is often considered a concept of God. In Chinese religion, God is conceived as the progenitor of the universe, intrinsic to it, other religions have names for God, for instance, Baha in the Baháí Faith, Waheguru in Sikhism, and Ahura Mazda in Zoroastrianism. The earliest written form of the Germanic word God comes from the 6th-century Christian Codex Argenteus, the English word itself is derived from the Proto-Germanic * ǥuđan. The reconstructed Proto-Indo-European form * ǵhu-tó-m was likely based on the root * ǵhau-, in the English language, the capitalized form of God continues to represent a distinction between monotheistic God and gods in polytheism. The same holds for Hebrew El, but in Judaism, God is also given a proper name, in many translations of the Bible, when the word LORD is in all capitals, it signifies that the word represents the tetragrammaton. Allāh is the Arabic term with no plural used by Muslims and Arabic speaking Christians and Jews meaning The God, Ahura Mazda is the name for God used in Zoroastrianism. Mazda, or rather the Avestan stem-form Mazdā-, nominative Mazdå and it is generally taken to be the proper name of the spirit, and like its Sanskrit cognate medhā, means intelligence or wisdom. Both the Avestan and Sanskrit words reflect Proto-Indo-Iranian *mazdhā-, from Proto-Indo-European mn̩sdʰeh1, literally meaning placing ones mind, Waheguru is a term most often used in Sikhism to refer to God
38.
Haunted house
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Ghosthouse is a 1988 Italian-American horror film directed by Umberto Lenzi and produced by exploitation film auteur Joe DAmato. It co-starred Lara Wendel and Donald OBrien and its plot focuses on a deserted house where the visions of a ghostly girl and her haunted doll wreak havoc on those who enter it. The film is the unofficial Italian sequel to Evil Dead II, in the United States, La Casa 3 was released as Ghosthouse, with director Lenzi being credited under the alias Humphrey Humbert. A group of unlikely companions receive a radio call leading to a house with a grisly past. After exploring the house, the group makes the decision to split up, leading to a trail of death. Along the way expect severed heads, exploding light bulbs, demonic clown dolls, moon as Pepe Susan Muller as Mrs. Baker Alain Smith as Samuel Baker William J. Devany as Lieutenant Ralph Morse as Coroner Robert Champagne as Mortician Hernest Mc. Kimnoro as Cemetery Custodian Ghosthouse was shot on location in Boston and Cohasset, the house featured in the film is the same house used in Lucio Fulcis The House by the Cemetery. The film was released theatrically in Italy in August 1988, and this film has been released twice on Region 2 DVD in the UK as Ghosthouse, once by Vipco in 2004 with no cuts, the second by Cornerstone Media in 2009. In January 2012 the film was released as a download and VOD with humorous commentary by RiffTrax and this was released to DVD in November 2013 along with the un-riffed version of the film. The film has also seen DVD releases in Germany and Italy. The film was released for the first time in North America on Blu-ray in June 2015 as a double feature, La Casa series - An Italian rebranding of several otherwise unrelated horror films, including Ghosthouse. Ghosthouse at the Internet Movie Database Comparison of DVD releases
39.
Hypnosis
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Hypnosis is a state of human consciousness involving focused attention and reduced peripheral awareness and an enhanced capacity to respond to suggestion. The term may refer to an art, skill, or act of inducing hypnosis. Theories explaining what occurs during hypnosis fall into two groups, altered state theories see hypnosis as an altered state of mind or trance, marked by a level of awareness different from the ordinary conscious state. In contrast, nonstate theories see hypnosis as a form of imaginative role enactment, during hypnosis, a person is said to have heightened focus and concentration. The person can concentrate intensely on a thought or memory. Hypnotised subjects are said to show a response to suggestions. Hypnosis is usually induced by a known as a hypnotic induction involving a series of preliminary instructions. The use of hypnotism for therapeutic purposes is referred to as hypnotherapy, stage hypnosis is often performed by mentalists practicing the art form of mentalism. The term hypnosis comes from the ancient Greek word ὕπνος hypnos, sleep, and the suffix -ωσις -osis, or from ὑπνόω hypnoō, put to sleep and the suffix -is. The words hypnosis and hypnotism both derive from the term neuro-hypnotism, all of which were coined by Étienne Félix dHenin de Cuvillers in 1820 and these words were popularized in English by the Scottish surgeon James Braid around 1841. Braid based his practice on that developed by Franz Mesmer and his followers, a person in a state of hypnosis is relaxed, has focused attention, and has increased suggestibility. It could be said that suggestion is explicitly intended to make use of the placebo effect. For example, in 1994, Irving Kirsch characterised hypnosis as a placebo, i. e. a method that openly makes use of suggestion. Have defined hypnosis in terms of dissociation, Social psychologists Sarbin and Coe. have described hypnosis in terms of role theory. Hypnosis is a role that play, they act as if they were hypnotised. Defined hypnosis in terms of behavioural parameters, such as task motivation. Conceptualised hypnosis as a state of enhanced suggestibility and he has defined hypnotism as a form of influence by one person exerted on another through the medium or agency of suggestion. Described hypnosis by using the concept of regression in the service of the ego
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